Turns Out I'm White (Not that There's Anything Wrong With That)

Hispanics Find a Way Out of the Race Conundrum

A few days ago, fellow Big Tent blogger Bill Imada reminded us of the importance of filling out our Census forms and get our voices heard -- and our numbers properly counted. I couldn't agree more. So as soon as the questionnaire arrived at my two-person household, we sat down to fill the form and expected to be done within 10 minutes or so.

My boyfriend, who is French, promptly checked the box for "White," but the choice didn't look so straight-forward to me. I had plenty of options to choose from: White, Black, African American, Negro, American Indian or Alaska native. Finding no comfort in any of those, I could then pick from a longer, colorful list that included "Japanese," "Korean" and even "Vietnamese" (which I never really thought of as being races). Confused, and feeling none of the above could possibly apply to me (already self-described on Question 8 as a Hispanic person of Mexican origin,) I ended up following my boyfriend's advice and checked the box for "white," since that is – apparently -- the race I belong to. "Just check White," he said. "That's what you are, right?," he added, trying his best to help his distressed, confused domestic partner out of a racial jam. I did.

I have nothing against with being "white." After all, the Census allows me to identify myself first as a Hispanic, then as Mexican -- and I was damn sure I didn't belong to the "Vietnamese" or "Korean" race.

However, upon checking the "white" box, I realized how highly charged that term can be, or how being "Hispanic" is more often than not considered a race among many U.S. Hispanics (It isn't.) A Puerto Rican man in the Bronx even refused to fill out his Census form because the term "Hispanic" was not considered a race, something he considered plain offensive. (And Hispanics aren't the only ones taking issue.)

Happily, talking to some fellow Hispanic white, brown and dark-brown friends, I learned that many of them found an easy way out to deal with Question 9: Taking advantage of the 19-character free space box under "race," many chose to spell out the word "mestizo," indicating the mixed nature of our heritage.

What a wonderful idea. Alas, by the time I considered the mestizo alternative, my form was already completed and popped into the mail. I guess I'll just have to wait another 10 years.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Laura Martinez is a freelance journalist living in New York. Read more from Laura daily at Mi Blog Es Tu Blog